Dave (The Wave) Cass has become vital part of Toronto Argonauts family

TORONTO — Scott Milanovich stood next to it, close enough to have its reflection light his blazer, but he refused to put even a single hand on the Grey Cup.

Milanovich, the first-year head coach of the Toronto Argonauts, stood quietly next to the trophy during a photo opportunity held with Calgary Stampeders counterpart John Hufnagel at a downtown Toronto hotel on Wednesday. Hufnagel, who has won the Grey Cup before, put a hand on one of the trophy’s silver handles.

“We decided, as a team, that we weren’t going to touch it,” Milanovich said.

TORONTO — Dave the Wave loves working with the Toronto Argonauts, especially on game day. He hands out the towels in the dressing room and he folds the laundry, but he is also the one responsible for running onto the field after a kick to retrieve the tee.

They keep Dave the Wave busy on game day.

“Dave’s problem is he gets so excited, because it’s game day, that he forgets to breathe,” Danny Webb, the team’s long-time equipment manager, said with a smile. “He does feel a little dizzy sometimes. It’s just because he’s so excited. He’ll tell you, ‘I just forgot to breathe.’”

On Sunday, at the end of his eighth season, Dave the Wave will take part in his first Grey Cup. He spent part of Thursday preparing each of the 48 footballs set aside for the game, which will pit his Argos against the Calgary Stampeders at Rogers Centre.

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Dave the Wave is David Cass, a 39-year-old from Toronto who works under the watchful eyes of Webb and assistant equipment manager Tom Bryce. Cass joined the team in 2005 as a volunteer, and talking about him lit up the faces of two battle-tested Argos veterans.

“Aw, he’s everything,” offensive tackle Chris Van Zeyl said.

“He’s part of the family,” safety Jordan Younger said.

“They’re great friends, really great friends,” Dave the Wave said.

Cass was born with Down’s syndrome. But he has been living and breathing with the Argos.

“These guys embrace him as a member of that team, period,” said his father, Brian Cass. “It’s beautiful.”

Michael (Pinball) Clemons gave David Cass his nickname back in that first season, when he was still head coach. Clemons called him “The Wave” for the way he danced in the middle of a team huddle after practice. The name stuck, and so has Cass.

His parents wrote a letter to the Canadian Football League about a month ago. Brian and Christie Cass praised the Argos, their players and management, heaping special praise on Webb and Bryce. They wrote that their son has been sought out as a speaker for several groups.

“And you know why? What the CFL and the Argos have done is make him almost a poster boy for the disabled community,” Brian Cass said. “He gives hope to young parents, who may have a child with a disability, that they, too, can be like Dave, and be included, and be a part of things.”

David Cass lives on his own in a midtown Toronto home near his parents, in what his mother calls supported independent living, with another couple living in the house. For the first time this spring, David Cass spent two full weeks living in a dormitory with the rest of the Argos during their training camp in Mississauga.

His father said it was the longest he has been away from home. And he loved it.

“The thing that’s so wonderful for us as parents is that they have taken him on as part of the team, and they respect him as that,” Christie Cass said. “They really make him feel important.”

The thing that’s so wonderful for us as parents is that they have taken him on as part of the team, and they respect him as that. They really make him feel important

David Cass is paid an honorarium by the Argos, but it is still only seasonal work. He spent part of one winter working with the University of Toronto’s women’s hockey team, and has spent others working in a variety of jobs. The family is still looking to find Cass work for this winter.

“It’s very hard for people with any kind of disability to get jobs,” Christie Cass said. “You have to find the right people.”

Once, her son landed in a coffee shop with help from a government program designed to help people with an intellectual disability find work.

“They had a support person with him,” Christie Cass said. “And after the first day, she went back to [the government program] and said, ‘Dave doesn’t need support. He can do this job quite well, thank you.’ ”

The arrangement with the business owner was for a six-week trial, just to start, she said.

“And as soon as the owner had to pay David, he fired him,” Christie Cass said. “He just used him as free labour for six weeks and then let him go. That wasn’t a very nice experience for him.”

Every spring, though, David Cass has a home with Argos.

“Every time there is a new coach or a new manager, or whatever, they could have easily said, ‘Away you go,’ ” his mother said. “But none of them have. And Danny says, ‘You’re part of the team, you can’t go anywhere.’”

Brian Cass mentioned a game last season when general manager Jim Barker held double-duty as head coach. David Cass ran out to retrieve the tee after a kick, and upon his return to the sideline, Barker reached over and put his arm around him.

It was in the middle of a game, but Barker spent a minute talking with him.

Afterward, Brian Cass asked his son what Barker was saying: “Coach Barker says to me, ‘You’re doing a great job, we really appreciate the job you’re doing.’ ”

Several members of the offensive line, including Van Zeyl, took Cass and his father to a wrestling event last year at the Air Canada Centre. His favourite wrestler, Randy Orton, was in town. The linemen bought him a shirt and gave him a night on the town.

“To see him happy,” Van Zeyl said, “it means the world to us.”

And on Thursday, Dave the Wave was doing the kind of work that will connect him even more to the big game this weekend. Preparing the game balls left his hands a deep shade of red, the result of the colour bleeding from the balls as part of an intricate preparation process — there is wiping, drying, more wiping, more drying, buffing and, finally, a sticky cloth applied to improve grip.

It was a job for Dave the Wave. And his job with the Argos is his, as long as he wants it.

“He’s got one of those lifetime contracts,” Webb said. “As long as I’m here, he’ll be here.”